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MrNexx
Rear Admiral
Joined: 25 Mar 2016
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Location: San Antonio
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 Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2017 9:39 am Post subject: The Box of Fun |
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Hook: The players have been hired to salvage a massive freighter on the edge of the local system. It arrived a day ago, transmitted its arrival to their employer, and then went silent.
Line: The freighter itself is damaged; no working comms, so it can't be taken over by a tug. The team (if they lack their own ship) can be flown out there in a sublight shuttle, board the ship, and, hopefully, pilot it back to the planet for unloading.
Sinker: The ship was, in addition to the cargo their employer wanted, carrying some variety of biological monster... rathtars, pygmy rancors, wampa, K’Lor’Slug, your choice... that have killed the crew. The group MIGHT be able to avoid them completely and make it to the cockpit to fly the ship back... or they might get eaten.
Notes: This can be a good intro for a group to get them familiar with a variety of mechanics, including combat, and get them a ship without much in the way of debt. What the cargo is, who wants it, and if they'll have any trouble getting it to the ground is another question, and the size of the ship makes it something they'll want to upgrade from (unless they favor being bulk haulers, in which case, take inspiration from Smokey & The Bandit and other trucker movies).
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Sutehp
Commodore
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| Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2017 12:36 pm Post subject: |
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What do non-functional comms have to do with a tug not being able to tractor the freighter?
And just imagine the havoc that could happen if the freighter does get tugged back to a starport and the monsters get loose on a populated planet...
Not to mention that there will be hell to pay for violating a possible planetary quarantine (if possible story circumstances allow for this).
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MrNexx
Rear Admiral
Joined: 25 Mar 2016
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Location: San Antonio
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| Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2017 2:19 pm Post subject: |
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| Sutehp wrote: | What do non-functional comms have to do with a tug not being able to tractor the freighter?
And just imagine the havoc that could happen if the freighter does get tugged back to a starport and the monsters get loose on a populated planet...
Not to mention that there will be hell to pay for violating a possible planetary quarantine (if possible story circumstances allow for this). |
It can be tractored; sorry. Was thinking of docking interlocks, and the ability to take over a ship that way.
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"I've Seen Your Daily Routine. You Are Not Busy!"
“We're going to win this war, not by fighting what we hate, but saving what we love.”
http://rpgcrank.blogspot.com/ |
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Solo4114
Commander
Joined: 18 May 2017
Posts: 256
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| Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2017 5:21 pm Post subject: |
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| MrNexx wrote: | | Sutehp wrote: | What do non-functional comms have to do with a tug not being able to tractor the freighter?
And just imagine the havoc that could happen if the freighter does get tugged back to a starport and the monsters get loose on a populated planet...
Not to mention that there will be hell to pay for violating a possible planetary quarantine (if possible story circumstances allow for this). |
It can be tractored; sorry. Was thinking of docking interlocks, and the ability to take over a ship that way. |
So you mean you can't "slave" the ship and pilot it remotely. |
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16321
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2017 6:01 pm Post subject: |
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Perhaps this would be a good insert for a salvage campaign. It works well as a hook to actually get characters on board, maybe with a legal requirement that the characters must board and survey the ship to have a salvage claim, and that simply towing it to the nearest port simply nets a basic transport fee.
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Sutehp
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Location: Washington, DC (AKA Inside the Beltway)
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| Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2017 7:55 pm Post subject: |
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| Solo4114 wrote: | | MrNexx wrote: | | Sutehp wrote: | What do non-functional comms have to do with a tug not being able to tractor the freighter?
And just imagine the havoc that could happen if the freighter does get tugged back to a starport and the monsters get loose on a populated planet...
Not to mention that there will be hell to pay for violating a possible planetary quarantine (if possible story circumstances allow for this). |
It can be tractored; sorry. Was thinking of docking interlocks, and the ability to take over a ship that way. |
So you mean you can't "slave" the ship and pilot it remotely. |
Ok, this makes more sense. Thank you for the clarification.
| CRMcNeill wrote: | | Perhaps this would be a good insert for a salvage campaign. It works well as a hook to actually get characters on board, maybe with a legal requirement that the characters must board and survey the ship to have a salvage claim, and that simply towing it to the nearest port simply nets a basic transport fee. |
Yeah, this is sounding more and more like Alien. I can't help thinking that this is intentional. Also, it's not a bad thing at all. The line between inspirational and derivative is in the eye of the beholder.
...Did I just mix my metaphors there? 
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Just repurchased the X-Wing and Tie Fighter flight sim games. I forgot how much I missed them. |
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garhkal
Sovereign Protector
Joined: 17 Jul 2005
Posts: 14218
Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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| Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2017 11:58 pm Post subject: |
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| CRMcNeill wrote: | | Perhaps this would be a good insert for a salvage campaign. It works well as a hook to actually get characters on board, maybe with a legal requirement that the characters must board and survey the ship to have a salvage claim, and that simply towing it to the nearest port simply nets a basic transport fee. |
Good point. IRL and in the Aliens verse, salvage rights couldn't be claimed if there was someone alive, even if they were in a stasis pod...
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Kytross
Line Captain
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| Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2017 2:42 am Post subject: |
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| Most bulk Freighters are capital scale. To tractor it across a system would require a large ship, probably of capital scale, or several smaller ships. Either way it is likely cheaper to hire a crew to fly it back, especially since the engines appear to function. |
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Zarn
Force Spirit
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| Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2017 3:59 am Post subject: |
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| Or, you know, take a tug and get the tug to get it in motion. Also, I'd think that my group of players, paranoid bunch of people they are (I wonder why?) would likely just pop every hatch open and keep it that way after they've used a Life Form Sensor scan on the bulk freighter. |
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MrNexx
Rear Admiral
Joined: 25 Mar 2016
Posts: 2248
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| Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2017 11:43 am Post subject: |
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| CRMcNeill wrote: | | Perhaps this would be a good insert for a salvage campaign. It works well as a hook to actually get characters on board, maybe with a legal requirement that the characters must board and survey the ship to have a salvage claim, and that simply towing it to the nearest port simply nets a basic transport fee. |
I like this solution, too.
As for why you don't just pop every hatch? Make sure that what the employer wants won't stand vacuum. Maybe its some botanicals. Or slaves. Or his daughter, being returned by a bounty hunter.
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"I've Seen Your Daily Routine. You Are Not Busy!"
“We're going to win this war, not by fighting what we hate, but saving what we love.”
http://rpgcrank.blogspot.com/ |
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Sutehp
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Location: Washington, DC (AKA Inside the Beltway)
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| Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2017 7:47 pm Post subject: |
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| MrNexx wrote: | | As for why you don't just pop every hatch? Make sure that what the employer wants won't stand vacuum. Maybe its some botanicals. Or slaves. Or his daughter, being returned by a bounty hunter. |
My legal thinking just kicked in here (and I apologize for that  ): But yeah, deliberately popping the hatches on a spaceship where there is a good likelihood of civilian passengers (who might or might not be in danger of being spaced) strikes me as being close to what we lawyers refer to as "depraved heart" murder. Basically, that means that the defendant may not have intended to commit murder, but their act was so indifferent to the safety of others and had a high chance of causing serious injury or death to someone else, then they can be charged with second-degree murder. A real life example would be drag-racing in a residential area. You didn't intend to kill anyone when you were racing, but driving at high speeds through a place where there is a high chance that you could hit someone is so reckless, you basically didn't care about whether you injured or killed someone. Opening all the airlocks on a derelict spaceship before taking the time to check for live passengers and crew strikes me as qualifying as depraved heart murder. Even in the Empire, I could see this as an act of piracy qualifying as a Class One infraction, meaning it's a capital offense.
Granted, if the star system in question is in a place like Hutt Space (somewhere that is at least somewhat autonomous from the Empire's control), the local laws may be a bit more lax about such things. And that could add in a number of unanticipated story factors for a GM to play with....
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Only some of it is for D6 Star Wars.
Just repurchased the X-Wing and Tie Fighter flight sim games. I forgot how much I missed them. |
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